1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an automatic attaching apparatus of a foamed seal member that automatically attaches a foamed seal member to an attaching surface of a work such as the body, the front glass or the like of a motor vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
For soundproofing, waterproofing, vibration-proofing, dust-proofing and so on, a straight foamed seal member made of a rubber foamed layer is attached to a steel plate forming the body of a motor vehicle or the front glass thereof by being deformed so as to fit on an attaching surface. An attaching surface of a steel plate forming the body of a motor vehicle or the like is often a complexly curved surface that is curved three-dimensionally.
Conventionally, such attaching of a foamed seal member is performed manually by a worker in the following order. A release paper is attached to the back surface of a foamed seal member through an adhesive layer formed on the back surface. A worker removes this release paper, applies a pattern to an attaching surface of a work, and attaches a foamed seal member to the attaching surface along the pattern.
However, this manual procedure includes many steps and a worker need considerable concentration for repeating the attaching procedure, thereby causing variation in the attached positions of foamed seal members.
The Japanese Patent Application publication No. 2012-153286 discloses an automatic attaching apparatus of a foamed seal member that realizes a decrease in the number of attaching steps and variation in attached positions by automating the attaching working of straight foamed seal members.
In detail, this automatic attaching apparatus of the foamed seal member includes a connection link formed by connecting a plurality of link plates through connection shafts, a hand attached to the lower surface of each of these link plates and grasping a foamed seal member, a chuck removing a release paper partially from the end portion, and a running bar removing all the release paper by running in a horizontal direction in the state where the running bar is inserted in a space between the partially removed release paper and the foamed seal member. Then, the connection link is deformed from a straight shape into a curved shape, and thereby the foamed seal member is deformed along the shape of an attaching surface of a work and then attached to the attaching surface.
With the apparatus described in the Japanese Patent Application publication No. 2012-153286, while a straight foamed seal member is deformed using the connection link, there is a certain limit in the deformation and thus the foamed seal member can not be deformed flexibly. For example, the apparatus has a difficulty in deforming a foamed seal member into a closed loop shape such as a circular shape or a quadrangular shape and attaching it.